Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on ocular disease: KNHANES 2015-2021.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on ocular diseases and changes in risk factors before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was conducted using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2015-2021, a national cross-sectional health examination and survey. Associations between ocular diseases and risk factors were determined using the chi-squared test and logistic regression analysis.

Targeting CD38 with Daratumumab Plus Chemotherapy for Patients with Advanced-Stage Plasmablastoid Large B-Cell Lymphoma.

Plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL) is a rare and aggressive form of large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) most commonly seen in the setting of chronic immunosuppression or autoimmune disease. The prognosis is poor and CHOP-like regimens often fail to produce durable remission; therefore, there is no established standard of care treatment. However, PBL demonstrates substantial morphologic and immunophenotypic overlap with multiple myeloma (MM), suggesting that MM therapeutics might prove useful in treating PBL.

Extracellular ATP and Adenosine in Cancer Pathogenesis and Treatment.

ATP hydrolysis and downstream signaling pathways in the extracellular space have a major impact upon tumor progression and metastasis. The complexity and interdependence of various cell types in the extracellular space have been increasingly appreciated in recent years. With increased awareness of the importance of this signaling pathway in the pathogenic development and progression of malignancies, there has been attention to therapeutic strategies targeting extracellular adenosine metabolism and signaling.

Future of immunotherapy in pancreas cancer and the trials, tribulations and successes thus far.

Pancreas ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a dismal prognosis with a 5-year survival rate of 10%. Currently, chemotherapy remains the standard of care for systemic treatment. Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors unfortunately has not been found to be effective in the treatment of PDAC to date, likely due to the highly desmoplastic and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME).

Femoral Neck Stress Fractures in South Korean Male Military Recruits.

Backgroud: Femoral neck stress fractures (FNSFs) are rare but potentially disabling injuries if the diagnosis is missed or delayed and proper treatment is not provided. The aim of this study was to investigate and describe the characteristics and clinical course of FNSFs in South Korean male military recruits.

Methods: Between May 2015 and October 2019, 16 fractures in 12 young male military recruits were reviewed.

Fatal COVID-19 in an MS patient on natalizumab: A case report.

We report a fatal case of COVID-19 in a 51-year-old African American woman with multiple sclerosis on natalizumab. She had multiple risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease including race, obesity, hypertension, and elevated inflammatory markers, but the contribution of natalizumab to her poor outcome remains unknown. We consider whether altered dynamics of peripheral immune cells in the context of natalizumab treatment could worsen the cytokine storm syndrome associated with severe COVID-19.

Early postnatal exposure to isoflurane causes cognitive deficits and disrupts development of newborn hippocampal neurons via activation of the mTOR pathway.

Clinical and preclinical studies indicate that early postnatal exposure to anesthetics can lead to lasting deficits in learning and other cognitive processes. The mechanism underlying this phenomenon has not been clarified and there is no treatment currently available. Recent evidence suggests that anesthetics might cause persistent deficits in cognitive function by disrupting key events in brain development.

Sevoflurane Impairs Growth Cone Motility in Dissociated Murine Neurons.

Background: Early postnatal exposure to general anesthetic agents causes a lasting impairment in learning and memory in animal models. One hypothesis to explain this finding is that exposure to anesthetic agents during critical points in neural development disrupts the formation of brain circuitry. Here, we explore the effects of sevoflurane on the neuronal growth cone, a specialization at the growing end of axons and dendrites that is responsible for the targeted growth that underlies connectivity between neurons.

Neurogenesis and developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity.

The mechanism by which anesthetics might act on the developing brain in order to cause long term deficits remains incompletely understood. The hippocampus has been identified as a structure that is likely to be involved, as rodent models show numerous deficits in behavioral tasks of learning that are hippocampal-dependent. The hippocampus is an unusual structure in that it is the site of large amounts of neurogenesis postnatally, particularly in the first year of life in humans, and these newly generated neurons are critical to the function of this structure.

RCAN1 links impaired neurotrophin trafficking to aberrant development of the sympathetic nervous system in Down syndrome.

Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal disorder affecting the nervous system in humans. To date, investigations of neural anomalies in Down syndrome have focused on the central nervous system, although dysfunction of the peripheral nervous system is a common manifestation. The molecular and cellular bases underlying peripheral abnormalities have remained undefined.

Effects of Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury and Hypothermic Neuroprotection on Neural Progenitor Cells in the Mouse Hippocampus.

Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic injury (HI) results in widespread cerebral encephalopathy and affects structures that are essential for neurocognitive function, such as the hippocampus. The dentate gyrus contains a reservoir of neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPCs) that are critical for postnatal development and normal adult function of the hippocampus, and may also facilitate the recovery of function after injury. Using a neonatal mouse model of mild-to-moderate HI and immunohistochemical analysis of NSPC development markers, we asked whether these cells are vulnerable to HI and how they respond to both injury and hypothermic therapy.

Wnt5a is necessary for normal kidney development in zebrafish and mice.

Background: Wnt5a is important for the development of various organs and postnatal cellular function. Little is known, however, about the role of Wnt5a in kidney development, although WNT5A mutations were identified in patients with Robinow syndrome, a genetic disease which includes developmental defects in kidneys. Our goal in this study was to determine the role of Wnt5a in kidney development.

Isoflurane impairs the capacity of astrocytes to support neuronal development in a mouse dissociated coculture model.

Background: There is growing concern that pediatric exposure to anesthetic agents may cause long-lasting deficits in learning by impairing brain development. Most studies to date on this topic have focused on the direct effects of anesthetics on developing neurons. Relatively little attention has been paid to possible effects of anesthetics on astrocytes, a glial cell type that plays an important supporting role in neuronal development.

Review: effects of anesthetics on brain circuit formation.

The results of several retrospective clinical studies suggest that exposure to anesthetic agents early in life is correlated with subsequent learning and behavioral disorders. Although ongoing prospective clinical trials may help to clarify this association, they remain confounded by numerous factors. Thus, some of the most compelling data supporting the hypothesis that a relatively short anesthetic exposure can lead to a long-lasting change in brain function are derived from animal models.

An autocrine Wnt5a-Ror signaling loop mediates sympathetic target innervation.

During nervous system development, axon branching at nerve terminals is an essential step in the formation of functional connections between neurons and target cells. It is known that target tissues exert control of terminal arborization through secretion of trophic factors. However, whether the in-growing axons themselves produce diffusible cues to instruct target innervation remains unclear.

Wnt5a-Ror-Dishevelled signaling constitutes a core developmental pathway that controls tissue morphogenesis.

Wnts make up a large family of extracellular signaling molecules that play crucial roles in development and disease. A subset of noncanonical Wnts signal independently of the transcription factor β-catenin by a mechanism that regulates key morphogenetic movements during embryogenesis. The best characterized noncanonical Wnt, Wnt5a, has been suggested to signal via a variety of different receptors, including the Ror family of receptor tyrosine kinases, the Ryk receptor tyrosine kinase, and the Frizzled seven-transmembrane receptors.

Frizzled3 is required for neurogenesis and target innervation during sympathetic nervous system development.

The sympathetic nervous system has served as an amenable model system to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying developmental processes in the nervous system. While much attention has been focused on neurotrophic factors controlling survival and connectivity of postmitotic sympathetic neurons, relatively little is known about signaling mechanisms regulating development of sympathetic neuroblasts. Here, we report that Frizzled3 (Fz3), a member of the Wnt receptor family, is essential for maintenance of dividing sympathetic neuroblasts.

Targeting epidermal growth factor receptor-associated signaling pathways in non-small cell lung cancer cells: implication in radiation response.

Several studies have shown solid evidence for the potential value of targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling to enhance the antitumor activity of radiation. However, therapeutic resistance has emerged as an important clinical issue. Here, we investigated whether strategies for targeting EGFR-associated downstream signaling would radiosensitize a panel of non-small cell lung cancer cell lines.